Hard to blame DK for this one. He's only one ape. It's nearly impossible to smuggle an authorial vision intact through the creative process. Of any art form! Let alone one as corporate as gaming. So I'll give him this, Donkey Kong '94 is better on every level of construction than the terrible reboot series. I just don't like it much.
At the core of it, I'm not sold on these micro-platforming stages as compelling puzzles. Even at this much quicker pace and with substantially better design (a handful of them even require a bit of thought to solve this time!). I just found myself completely apathetic from front to back. Not enough Drive Impacts in the game is my current theory. Not enough Corner Traps.
What it clarified for me, is how much the bigwigs must have pushed DK out of the editing booth for Mario vs Donkey Kong. They tripled down on all of this game's bad habits. They quadrupled down on the lives system. They butchered the already sloppy platforming. They ruined the DK stages and gave me less of them. They ran the entire thing at 40% speed. They imported the Game Boy aesthetic whole cloth and lazily added colour, resulting in a look as coherent as those godawful AI colourisations of Buster Keaton movies on Amazon Prime. I don't even like this game that much and I'm insulted they would do this to his series. DK is a career artist. He has held this establishment on his back for more than four decades. And they do this to his namesake series? Disturbing. Nintendo would never sideline golden boy Mario like that. And he doesn't even direct or write! Just a producer, not like he'd ever tell you that! But people give him all the goddamn credit!
I've given Donkey Kong enough chances now. I don't think his best work comes from these handheld puzzle platformers. No wonder he pivoted back to home console sidescrollers. I've also noted his recent appearances in other people's work, cameos in party games and the like. Subtly, he puts himself back into the spotlight, steeling the public for yet another comeback. Ever the canny businessape.
At the core of it, I'm not sold on these micro-platforming stages as compelling puzzles. Even at this much quicker pace and with substantially better design (a handful of them even require a bit of thought to solve this time!). I just found myself completely apathetic from front to back. Not enough Drive Impacts in the game is my current theory. Not enough Corner Traps.
What it clarified for me, is how much the bigwigs must have pushed DK out of the editing booth for Mario vs Donkey Kong. They tripled down on all of this game's bad habits. They quadrupled down on the lives system. They butchered the already sloppy platforming. They ruined the DK stages and gave me less of them. They ran the entire thing at 40% speed. They imported the Game Boy aesthetic whole cloth and lazily added colour, resulting in a look as coherent as those godawful AI colourisations of Buster Keaton movies on Amazon Prime. I don't even like this game that much and I'm insulted they would do this to his series. DK is a career artist. He has held this establishment on his back for more than four decades. And they do this to his namesake series? Disturbing. Nintendo would never sideline golden boy Mario like that. And he doesn't even direct or write! Just a producer, not like he'd ever tell you that! But people give him all the goddamn credit!
I've given Donkey Kong enough chances now. I don't think his best work comes from these handheld puzzle platformers. No wonder he pivoted back to home console sidescrollers. I've also noted his recent appearances in other people's work, cameos in party games and the like. Subtly, he puts himself back into the spotlight, steeling the public for yet another comeback. Ever the canny businessape.